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Steve,
Here is a successful conclusion:
A few years ago a friend was departing 27 at KARR with a left
climbing turnout and quickly had smoke in the cockpit of his E-Racer
(pusher,retractable gear) from an engine compartment fire. He turned back
for a 27 left downwind and could not see anything. Looking out the
left side he spotted the Sky Haven hangars (194 of them, located SE of 27)) and
that oriented him for a long turn to final. Now it was getting hot
and smokey. After he finished the turn, he lost control of ailerons since
the control cables pass through the engine compartment and the
pulley supports had burned off. He slammed the plane down at about
125 Kts, luckily collapsing a main gear resulting in a short slide to a
stop. He ducked down for breathing air as he opened his forward hinged
canopy - that allowed a ball of flame (backdraft) to escape over his
head. He got out and watched everything soon consumed by the
fire (uh, the nose down attitude with the engine in the rear resulted
in fuel running forward and quickly burning the instrument panel). He
escaped this episode with not much more than singed head hair.
Analysis showed that he had a rather large hole in the firewall from
an uncompleted project and that allowed him to recognize the engine fire
soon after it started - heat and smoke entering the cockpit were the
clues.
Scott Krueger
I
was stressing out over the best possible fire protection by looking at fire
resistant: Paint, Firewall Penetrations, Sealants, etc.. My conclusion
was to do the best job I could on fire prevention (fuel lines, anti-chafe,
heat shielding, exhaust pipes, fire sleeves) and have a procedure for getting
it on the ground as quickly as possible with fuel and ignition
off.
Why?
A local Aerobatic Performer flying a Harmon Rocket had a FWF fire in the
pattern. He got it on the runway asap, but not before a hole was burned
in the belly. He died of smoke inhalation. The odds are not good
on a in-flight FWF fire, has anyone heard of a successful
conclusion?
Steve
Colwell
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